Shohei Ohtani, the two- approach player and Major League Baseball’s leading global attraction, denied on Monday he’d always wager on baseball or any other sport. He is involved in a federal investigation into his former interpreter who allegedly fraudulently gambled at sporting events.
Ohtani, who had right hip surgery and is not starting for the upcoming season, addressed the issue at a press conference on Monday at Dodger Stadium before a Freeway Series exhibition match against his original team, the Los Angeles Angels.
” I have not bet on sports or on any other athletics”, Ohtani said. I have not requested that anyone do it on my representative. I’ve never been to a gambler to gamble on activities”.
In his first thoughts about the discussion Ohtani said that his speaker, Ippei Mizuhara, had stolen money from him.

” I was shocked”, Ohtani added. ” Up to a couple of days ago I did n’t even know this was happening. Ippei has been lying about how much wealth has been stolen from my account.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres split a two-game collection next month, making the news about Ohtani public. Ohtani collaborated with colleague Mizuhara for his first six months with the Angels.
Mizuhara joined Ohtani in signing a 10-year,$ 700 million agreement with the Dodgers in December.
After being allegedly linked to an illegitimate publisher in California, Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers in the middle of a South Korean game. According to reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN, Mizuhara was fired.
” The first time I heard about this was after the initial game]in Korea] when we had a team meeting in the clubhouse”, Ohtani said. ” During the conference, I sort of understood what was happening and what was wrong.”
On Tuesday, an speaker for ESPN spoke with Mizuhara, who claimed that Ohtani had paid his gaming debts and that his betting losses had ballooned past$ 1 million. Mizuhara later changed his story and claimed Ohtani had no understanding of the gaming bills and did not transfer funds to bookmakers after hearing from Ohtani’s attorneys that the speaker had stolen money from Ohtani to make the wagers. Mizuhara said he did n’t bet on baseball.
” Ippei not revealed to me there was this advertising inquiry”, Ohtani said. Ippei claimed to have paid off a loan for a friend by telling the media and my representatives. After some further questioning, it became clear that Ippei was truly responsible for paying off that debt. All of that is a total lie.
It was the first time Ohtani had heard of the speaker using the ballplayer’s funds to cover betting losses during a private conversation with Mizuhara. ” When we went back to the hotel to speak, that’s when I found out he had large bill”, Ohtani said. And he acknowledged during the meeting that he was using my bill to transfer funds to a publisher. That’s when I contacted the Dodgers and my associates”.
California is a position where sports betting is also prohibited. MLB players and employees are permitted to place bets on athletics, but football bets are a completely different story. Gambling on a game in which a person is not a participant may result in a one-year suspension, while a wager on a game in which they are a participant findings in a permanent suspension

( This article has been updated throughout with additional Ohtani quotations. )